IS YOUR BEACH swim going to be in clean waters? Soon, you’ll know in a jiffy, thanks to a new kind of robot buoy. The new technology is being developed by researchers in the USA. So how does it work?
The buoys are deployed in the water near a beach. Information is gathered by sensors embedded in them. Information can be anything: From how clear the water is, to water temperature, to toxin levels. The water is analysed, and information on water quality is fed back to a land-based server.
Buoys to the Rescue
“Current beach-management practices are slow and unreliable,” says Phanikumar Mantha, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at MSU. “A water sample needs to be gathered, then taken to a lab for analysis. That can be anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. If you go to the beach today and swim, then you find out tomorrow you shouldn’t have gone, that’s not very helpful.”
Once the information is gathered via the buoy, it is sent to the people who need to know. For example, a parks official who then makes the decision whether or not to close the beach. Data could also be published on web pages that provide the information to the public. Data from the sensors can also detect harmful bacteria, and alert authorities who can shut the beach.
The good news is that beaches can stay open if bacteria is not detected. Says Mantha, “If you close a beach unnecessarily, it’s hurting the local businesses. Our ultimate goal is to protect the public from getting exposed to contaminated water. This problem can be particularly hard on children and seniors, who tend to be more susceptible to its dangers.”
It is nice to know that the waters are clear and that the temperature is just right. Many of us would subscribe daily to this information. Would you? ■
Renovating: If you are selling your home, here are some tips to get that buyer to sign on that dotted line.
There are many things you can do to get your house in a state whereby a buyer can see it as their own. This includes cleaning, painting, de-cluttering, landscaping and deciding which other projects might reap the greatest reward given limited time and money. Nearly one quarter of sellers who make renovations or improvements before selling, sell above list price. This is compared with 16 percent of sellers who don’t. The key is making smart decisions about what to upgrade, because home-improvement projects don’t necessarily pay for themselves. Some improvements actually cost more than they return in value. A smaller, inexpensive upgrade typically brings a bigger reward than a more involved and time-consuming one. Here are some tips to maximise return and minimise renovation headaches:
Dive into the “curb appeal” projects first, and do them smartly.
New paint inside and out and basic landscaping don’t break the bank, and are typically the most common and necessary improvements. And choosing the right eye-catching colours can increase a home’s value far beyond just the appeal of new paint. Yellow homes sell for nearly $3,500 less than expected, while the right colour door can lead to an extra $6,000 in a seller’s pocket.
Dive into the “curb appeal” projects first, and do them smartly.
Upgrade the bathrooms (but not too much).
A mid-range bathroom remodel, replacing the toilet, tub and light fixtures, adding a double sink, tiling the floor and hanging some wallpaper, is a good idea. This typically results in a $1.71 increase in home value for every dollar spent, if the bathroom is at least 25 years old. But an upscale bathroom remodel with top-end features, full-body-wash shower wall, bidet, will actually cost a seller. It adds 87 cents of home value for every dollar spent.
Upgrade the bathrooms (but not too much).
Install new windows.
New mid-range windows can return $1.15 for every dollar. But get too fancy and you’ll end up breaking even.
Install new windows.
Pay attention to current design trends.
Warm modernism and organic accents are in. Bold colours and an overtly rustic feel are out. The right design can show buyers the potential in your home.
Pay attention to current design trends.
Don’t focus on the kitchen.
Kitchen renovations, at any level, are among the worst return on investment of the home improvements, at about 50 cents on the dollar. Part of the reason is that the kitchen is one of the few rooms in a house where different people want different uses. You could spend $30,000 renovating a kitchen only to turn off some potential buyers who would have done it differently.
Renovating a kitchen: be careful how you spend your money on it
If you’re fixing up your home to appeal to a variety of potential buyers, go for changes that have a broad appeal. Fresh paint in the new ‘it’ neutral signals a well-maintained home, and most people can imagine their own furniture matching the walls. A luxury chef’s kitchen won’t matter to the majority of people who can’t call themselves a good cook and just eat out often anyway.
Do you wear a wetsuit in winter? Then check this out.
Ocean lovers of the Gold Coast don’t need to think about wetsuits too much. But if you want to get that wave this winter without feeling the cold, then the wetsuit of the future may be just what you are looking for.
Brrrrrr
We here on the Goldie are lucky, our waters are warm pretty much all year round. But there are other places where the oceans aren’t as welcoming.
Damn It’s Cold
Diving in icy water is extremely dangerous to humans. Within seconds, arteries tighten, blood pressure and heart rate race, and lungs gasp for air. After only minutes, hyperventilation strikes and arms and legs go numb. This is the onset of hypothermia.
Over in the USA, the Navy is trying to develop ways that let divers to stay under freezing waters for longer. They want a wetsuit to work like animal blubber. And they may have cracked it.
What the scientists have come up with is a wetsuit infused with an artificial blubber layer. This layer can triple the endurance time of divers in frozen waters. If this wetsuit can help divers last longer in icy oceans, then think about what it could do for you in the mild Pacific Ocean in our winter.
Boffins to the Rescue
The two professors working on the wetsuit are Dr Michael Strano and Dr Jacopo Buongiorno. Their focus is on a material called neoprene. Neoprene is the most common material used to make wetsuits. It is a synthetic rubber resembling a thick foam with numerous air pockets. These pockets slow the transfer of heat from the body into the surrounding cold water.
Strano and Buongiorno found that by substituting air with gasses, they created a more efficient, artificial blubber layer within the wetsuit. The gases they used in the wetsuit are non-toxic, don’t have negative chemical reactions, and don’t burn or explode. Using this suit, the diver’s tolerance went from one hour in freezing waters, to multiple hours.
Nope
Strano and Buongiorno placed a neoprene wetsuit in a sealed, specially-designed tank the size of a beer keg. They then pumped the container with the gasses for several hours. Laboratory tests showed the newly-pressurised wetsuit kept its insulating properties for over 20 hours after treatment. This is far longer than divers usually spend in frigid waters. The treatment also could be done in advance of a dive, with the wetsuit placed in a bag to be opened just before use. In such cases, the 20-hour countdown didn’t start until the suit was removed from the bag.
Super Nope
New Wetsuit? Nah.
“The great thing about this research is that you don’t have to recreate neoprene from scratch,” said Strano. “You can take an existing wetsuit from a closet, pump the gas into it and transform it into a super fabric.” While their laboratory tests and simulations have been successful, Strano and Buongiorno hope to test the wetsuit further during in-water demonstrations involving Navy and civilian divers. So watch this space, July-swimming enthusiasts.
Driverless yachts are finally here! Drink-boating is just around the corner! (Just kidding that’s terrible advice).
There is now a yacht that pilots itself. A robotics start-up founded by three engineering students is making headlines. They have been developing technology to create boats similar to Google’s driverless cars. And we can’t wait!
For quite some time, scientists have been working on driverless solutions for maritime shipping, search-and-rescue operations and security work. But driverless tech has been absent from recreational boating until now. Since forming a few years ago, the Buffalo Automation Group has successfully tested its technology on a 16-foot catamaran.
Dance instead of drive!
Driverless Yachts – Patents Pending
The company has filed two provisional patent applications and secured thousands of dollars in funding. “The success we’ve had illustrates there is a market for safe, highly-effective and easy-to-use marine autopilot systems. They can provide recreational boat owners with well-deserved peace of mind,” says Thiru Vikram, the company’s CEO. Fellow co-founders Shane Nolan, and Alex Zhitelzeyf agree.
Each year, recreational boating accidents cause hundreds of fatalities and thousands of injuries. Buffalo Automation Group wants to reduce those numbers through use of its technology. The company is targeting small yachts and inboard boats up to 40 feet long. Driverless yachts could save lives.
The yacht will drive itself while you hide from weird pirates
Nolan says, “These are vessels that are big enough for a family to spend anywhere from a few days to a few weeks on the water. But they’re often too small to hire a crew, or even a junior captain, so the captain must keep constant vigil over the boat.”
Autopilot
Like aeroplanes, many of these boats have an autopilot option. The problem, Zhitelzeyf says, is that these systems are reactive. They only respond after the boat senses a change in tide, wind or other conditions. The technology that Buffalo Automation Group is developing uses a combination of sensors, cameras and wireless communication systems. It is predictive, meaning it fuses real-time data, such as weather conditions and obstacles in the water (boats, swimmers, logs, etc.), with nautical charts and other static information. This preempts any threats to the boat and its course of direction.
Just think of all the stupid things you can do if you don’t have to drive your boat
Designed for new and used vessels, the system would dock the boat and allow the captain, at any time, to easily regain control over the boat. It also has the potential to reduce insurance costs. Zhitelzeyf says, “You will connect your smartphone or laptop to the system. From there, you use your device to tell the system where you’d like to go. It then guides the boat, from port to port, using the safest, most efficient route possible.”
The co-founders plan to continue to refine the technology while meeting with potential investors, boat manufacturers and retailers that sell marine electronics.
We here at GCLife are all about the robot yachts. Who wants to pilot a boat when you could be jumping off the back and catching a live marlin with your bare hands? And yes, we can do that, stop doubting us. ■
OVER THE Pacific Ocean in America, construction companies are getting serious about catering to boat owners. And what they have come up with is a stroke of genius.
Boat garages are now being built into houses in Florida. Nice!
Richmond American Homes of Florida are offering a new type of home design that includes attached garages that house marine vessels. So if you are a seafarer, you won’t have to build an unwieldy detached shed on your property. Your beautiful vessel will have its own toasty little place to be in the world.
Inside the boat garage. Think of all of the useless crap you could store in here!
Boat House Varieties
There are four different types of homes that offer the boat garage option. The garages are also tall enough to house a maxi-sized RV as well. Or you could just pile up your motorcycle collection, you know you want to! And of course, you would have space for 407 types of fishing rods too. DO IT!
The boat garage is also big enough to house an RV.
Richmond Homes say they are responding to demand in Florida, which has a very similar climate to the Gold Coast. Additional highlights of the house designs include a mudroom with bathroom, so you don’t walk your salty and sandy self through the house. Overall this house promises neatness. Your boat is tucked neatly away, you don’t walk your dirty self through the house.. it’s a neatfreak’s dream!
The houses are selling from around US$250,000, and are 3 to 5 bedrooms. House builders on the Gold Coast, take note! This could totally be a thing here in the Goldie. Let’s steal their ideas and go forth, because dammit, we all want a boat garage! ■
Southport is about to get that constant traffic jam ninja-ed! If you have ever tried to get to the Spit or to Seaworld on a weekend, then City peeps have heard your pain.
Travel time from Southport to Main Beach is projected to be reduced from 35 minutes to eight minutes during peak periods. This is because city forces are slapping on an additional lane to the Sundale Bridge. Yes indeedy, there will be way more people to overtake and undertake as you make your way to Main Beach.
Initial funding for the $34 million road project is set to be endorsed in the 2019-20 City Budget tomorrow. These plans will increase network capacity along the popular arterial route connecting Main Beach and Southport.
As well as the fifth lane on the Sundale Bridge the project will involve six-laning of the Gold Coast Highway. This will be achieved by demolishing the old pedestrian path on the bridge and adding a third southbound lane on the Gold Coast Highway.
Works to improve traffic flow will also include upgrades to Waterways Drive and its intersections. And, a signalised pedestrian crossing on Macarthur Parade adjacent to the Southport Yacht Club. The project is expected to take two years.
Said Mayor Tom Tate, “With the population expected to double by 2050 we need to have the transport infrastructure, sustainable travel options and traffic flow solutions necessary to support that growth and maintain productivity.”
Another significant congestion-easing project being funded through the budget is the $55 million
Isle of Capri Decongestion Project, which is due for completion in early 2021. Funding for the Capri project from the 2019-20 Budget will total $25 million.
